A woman says she has been making payments on a Volvo XC90 she hasn’t been able to drive since November after a months-long runaround between CarMax, a third-party warranty company, and a series of repair shops that kept misdiagnosing the problem. She says she did everything right and still ended up with a $5,500 bill that the warranty she bought won’t cover. Queenofthemild (@queenofthemild) posted a five-minute, 42-second TikTok that has drawn more than 19,700 views. In it, she describes the timeline of escalating issues that started with a cracked head gasket, continued through two failed water pump replacements, and finished with CarMax’s executive team telling her the fix would probably be on her. A Head Gasket, Then a Water Pump, Then Another Water Pump Queenofthemild says she bought the Volvo XC90 from CarMax in September 2024. By August 2025, it started having problems, according to the video. A repair shop in north Georgia told her it had a cracked head gasket, and she says a representative from the third-party warranty company confirmed that diagnosis. But the shop wasn’t part of the RepairPal network, which is the roster of certified facilities that CarMax’s warranty requires customers to use. This meant that the warranty company wouldn’t authorise the work there. “After several weeks of begging the Athens, Georgia, CarMax to tell me who European cars go to within the RepairPal network, it finally got taken to the right place,” she says. That shop reached a different diagnosis: a busted water pump. The water pump was replaced, but two weeks later, it overheated again. The shop diagnosed another bad water pump and replaced it again. “I get the vehicle back. I’m told it’s safe to drive. I’m told it is fixed,” she says. “I drive it fewer than 15 miles and it overheats and I have to abandon it in a parking lot.” Tell us what you think! View Comments She hasn’t had the car since November and says she’s still making payments on it. The Diagnosis Comes Full Circle Eventually, the RepairPal shop sent the car to a local Volvo dealership, where the diagnosis came back to what the first shop found: a cracked head gasket. But by then, she says the warranty company had a new reason to deny the claim. “I am then told that the warranty will not honor this claim because the head gasket issue was caused by a radiator blockage,” she says. “I confirm that there was never any radiator blockage.” The warranty company told her the repair would cost $5,500 out of pocket. “You’re expecting me to pay $5,500 for something that I in good faith have been trying to repair through your approved facilities,” she says. She says they closed her customer care case. Woman Takes Matter To CarMax At that point, she says she emailed CarMax’s CEO and PR team directly and got a call from the executive care team within two hours. “They’re like, oh my God, like, let’s figure this out. This sounds like a nightmare situation. This is not indicative of CarMax’s values,” she says. But the resolution they offered wasn’t what she hoped for. They purportedly told her she could authorise an engine tear-down at her own expense, and if the cause fell within the warranty’s coverage, they’d pay. “But more than likely, it’s going to be on you because we’re assuming the head gasket is cracked because of repeated overheating,” she says. She insists the car overheated multiple times while in the care of the repair shops, not while she was driving it. “I don’t know how many times in the past six months it’s overheated,” she says. “I don’t know what has happened while it has been in the care of these repair facilities.” How Do Extended Warranties Work? CarMax’s MaxCare plans are administered by third-party companies, not by CarMax itself, which can create situations where neither party takes responsibility for a denied claim. This isn’t an uncommon complaint. The Better Business Bureau’s CarMax profile shows a long pattern of warranty disputes, and ConsumerAffairs reviews of MaxCare include multiple accounts of denied claims and long delays. RAYS Auto Garage, a commenter who identified themselves as a repair shop owner, offered a detailed perspective. “Their policies are pretty well written and exclude repairs to leaking gaskets that are the direct result of an overheat condition,” they wrote. “What concerns me is the timeline of events. They stonewalled the first shop and sent you to one they might have had more leverage over as a RepairPal network facility and they found a failure point that now creates a path for them to deny your head gasket claim.” What Should She Do Now? The comments section quickly became a chorus of legal advice. Paul G, who identified himself as a paralegal, wrote, “I believe your options are to have them do a tear down at your cost. If it’s not covered, take them to small claims court. It’s possible that CarMax might settle with you as they will likely need to retain counsel.” Boss_Man82 suggested another avenue, writing, “I would contact local news also, bad press can change decisions.” Queenofthemild responded that she had already reached out to a local TV station. She also confirmed in the comments that she has filed complaints with the state attorney general’s office and the Better Business Bureau. MadQuacker34 shared a strikingly similar story, posting, “Same cracked head gasket issue. Third party warranty, kept telling me I needed to replace a bunch of different things first … then after none of that worked and it failed 2 block tests, they made me pay for a full engine breakdown. After that, they literally told me and the dealership we don’t see anything wrong and closed the claim.” BoardInThePipe, who says they once worked for a used car warranty company, suggested a pressure point. “If the warranty company won’t cover the repairs, and you put enough pressure on CarMax, they’ll tell the warranty company that they won’t sell their contracts anymore,” they wrote. David, another purported CarMax customer, wrote, “I bought a Chevy Cruze in 2021 and bought the ‘Max Care’ warranty. They disallowed every repair it needed except for the turbo when it went out and I’m sure they only covered that because it’s a well documented failure on those cars.” For now, Queenofthemild says she’s at a stalemate. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know what else to do,” she says. “Except share this into the internet ether.” Motor1 reached out to queenofthemild via TikTok direct message and CarMax via email for additional comment. We’ll be sure to update this if either responds. We want your opinion! What would you like to see on Motor1.com? Take our 3 minute survey. - The Motor1.com Team
+5 others
